[pres589]

A bayonet hood mount for the DA35 and DA50 would be cool. Especially if the hood and lens were designed so that the hood can reverse over the lens barrel when stored, like most bayonet mount hoods. I keep a little round metal hood in my camera bag for use with my DA35 when I think to bring it. I would honestly prefer it had Quick Shift, though, over a "real" hood mount.

I can understand why it never happened, but, a plastic fantastic ultra-wide prime would have really been something. Samyang to the rescue I guess.

[RonHendriks1966]

Pentax no longer design screwdrive lenses, Uluru, and haven't, for years.

The last update for 645, 35mm was just screwdrive. They dropped the Ball big time on that.

[BigMackCam]

The last update for 645, 35mm was just screwdrive. They dropped the Ball big time on that.

I think the key word there is "update", Ron. It wasn't a new design - just an update, in the same way the HD Limited lenses were merely updates. I don't see how that's dropping the ball, but then I do tend to look at the positive aspects

I've no doubt if they were designing a brand new lens from scratch, it would have some form of internal AF motor...

[thibs]

The last update for 645, 35mm was just screwdrive. They dropped the Ball big time on that.

Yeah, a slight upgrade should be completely reworked "just" for AF?
Do you actually have any sense of sanity or are you just trying to have some fun/at our expense?

[Uluru]

You speak as if it was a mistake!
I'll not sell my Limiteds, nor waste money buying upgraded versions.
My screwdrive lenses are fast to focus (such as the Tamron 70-200 and FA*300), just noisy.

Let's remind ourselves of the timeline, so that we may learn more from it:

May 21 2012 – DA50/1.8, screwdrive plastic lens announced.

September 10 2012 – HD DC DA560 finally announced.

27th August 2013. DA HD Limiteds, screwdrive all of them, reissued and announced. Pentax folks were a bit disappointed because it took Ricoh 2 years to show something new (as they presumed new things will come) and yet reissued were same designs but dipped in new coating soup and with a red ring. True new value? You answered it yourself: you are not parting with your SDM limiteds.

October 7th 2013 — HD DA 55-300, very much similar story; screwdrive lens, new coating, only WR is added as a bonus. At least something new.

November 6th 2013 — HD DC DA 20-40 Ltd issued. Now we are talking! A consumer lens with a new silent and quicker DC, up to expectations of the age where no other manufacturer but Ricoh Imaging issues screwdrive lenses for mainstream users.

October 29 2014 — Another DC lens, 16-85.

Do you see a problem in the timeline?

Look at 2012 — it tells that Pentax did have a strategy for the K-mount before the acquisition, they had the new tech, but something had happened, and users waited sooo long to have a consumer lens that is not a screwdrive tech from the last century. Full three years of waiting, for only two consumer lenses with a new drive, when users of other platforms have even horrible kit lenses with more advanced tech? *(SDM and * tech is for professional users, so I exclude those large and expensive lenses from mentioning because they are not sold as many as other lenses. Ricoh Imaging, however, did nothing to add any value to them.)

So tell me, what was Ricoh thinking exactly in 2013, or now in 2017, when no value is added even where it is well deserved (SDM * lenses with old SMC coating from the 1990s)?

(Let's for a moment forget the 50/1.8 from 2012, which makes things worse) Can you tell one excuse in their behalf, to justify issuing or re-issuing of the screwdrive lenses in 2013, adding no high-value, which then commits users to buy them in 2017, 2018, and ever after? To issue such an old tech in 2013 commits average users to buy it for the next who-know-how many years, maybe even 20, and was that Ricoh's strategy for Pentax as the "high-value added brand"?

The rest of the industry moved on in more advanced tech way before 2011. It also answers Kunzite's remark, that Leica sells old tech at premium prices, when it was Ricoh Imaging, and they still do it. (Most likely not because they like it, but because that's the burden old management and management's bad decisions left them with.)

---------- Post added 04-27-2017 at 09:22 AM ----------

The last update for 645, 35mm was just screwdrive. They dropped the Ball big time on that.

I have assembled a timeline, that reveals the weird reality behind Ricoh's strategy of "hi-added value products" for Ricoh Imaging. Whether it is just a brand new concept they realised they should be pursuing instead, it does not well describe first 4-5 years of the new ownership. Can they blame themselves? I think they can. However, it seems now is pointless to comment on lost opportunities because past cannot be remade, but lessons must be learned, so that they don't lose everything. They had the moment indeed, but did not realise it. Ricoh did not water the plant when it really needed.

However, K-1 and new DFA lenses do seem to inspire some hope, they seem to follow the high-added-value plan. Ricoh Imaging seem to have found new inspiration, but the APS-C and 645 are not reflecting the new strategy. Explained above.

[bobmaxja]

Who care about the past, let's focus about the future.

[clackers]

The DA plastic primes are cheap and good, but they don't have hoods, they don't have the better optical quality found in the FA35 or FA50. Those plastic DA go well on entry level camera, but kinda don't match well on a camera like the K1.

Those cheap primes are to be proud of, I reckon. They have their heritage in the FA35 and M50. They're so small you can just pack 'em in beside your zooms. I shot with them for an afternoon with the K-1, leaving the big DA*55 and Sigma 35mm Art at home.

Results here:

Autumn in the Dandenongs - PentaxForums.com

[clackers]

Look at 2012 — it tells that Pentax did have a strategy for the K-mount before the acquisition, they had the new tech, but something had happened, and users waited sooo long to have a consumer lens that is not a screwdrive tech from the last century.

(Laughs)

All this shows is that you don't understand that premium lines are the best place to pioneer new technology, and when proven it is made on a larger production scale and flows down later to the consumer end.

That is the normal sequencing.

The K-1 benefited from the 645Z's tilt screen, the K-P now has the K-1's five way image stablilizing, etc. Every company does it.

[Kunzite]

Uluru, I'm trying to make sense of your post but honestly I can't.

Pentax had DC in-lens motor technology since 2010, when they launched the first such lens. Yet the pre-Ricoh Pentax planned for the 3 inexpensive DA lenses.
Remaking lenses with HD coatings and rounded apertures is presumably much cheaper, much less effort than remaking them with DC motors (and different barrels to fit). Ricoh Imaging migrated towards HD coatings, and it's not unlikely they retired the SMC equipment. You say "no high-value", I'm saying a necessary step.

Besides that, all K-mount lenses launched under Ricoh had in-lens AF motors.

You're not answering my remark either; you're talking how Ricoh Imaging didn't fully transition to DC/PLM motors, but Leica M doesn't even have autofocus.
Actually you're not answering anything, you're just ranting.

[RonHendriks1966]

However, K-1 and new DFA lenses do seem to inspire some hope, they seem to follow the high-added-value plan. Ricoh Imaging seem to have found new inspiration, but the APS-C and 645 are not reflecting the new strategy. Explained above.

The only problem to this is that the dslr market keeps shrinking according to cipa up to march this year.

http://www.cipa.jp/stats/documents/e/d-201703_e.pdf

[ffking]

Ricoh did not water the plant when it really needed.

I think if you use another analogy you might come to a different conclusion - if the hull of your fishing boat is full of holes, your first priority is to patch the hull - then you can start fishing again to pay for a new engine.

[pres589]

This is the worst episode of "X Files: Pentax Is Doomed" that I've ever watched.

[RonHendriks1966]

This is the worst episode of "X Files: Pentax Is Doomed" that I've ever watched.

Well tomorrow is the ending episode cliffhanger for this seazon when Ricoh present it's year financials.

[Kunzite]

I'm sure you can't wait to put the most negative spin on it.

[BigMackCam]

Whatever happens with Ricoh's financials, I shall simply be enjoying photography and my Pentax gear